Blog Posts

SEAONC SE3 YEAR IN REVIEW

1/1/2020

The SEAONC SE3 Committee had a very productive year in 2019. Committee members worked to expand the SE3 network by connecting with professionals and advocates throughout the state, hosted several successful events in the SF Bay area, published a new blog and pay report, and continued to develop new resources that contribute to our mission to advance the profession.

SE3’s Long-Term Mentorship Program launched in March 2019, connecting over 50 mentees to 27 seasoned professionals living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In May 2019, former SEAONC & NCSEA SE3 co-chair Nick Sherrow-Groves was invited to present at a SEAOSC Leadership Symposium “SEIZE YOUR OPPORTUNITY” for the Women in Structural Engineering Committee.
SEAONC SE3 hosted the #ChangeXSE3 Symposium in May 2019 in San Francisco titled “A Changing Workplace | How to Engage, Retain and Secure the Future of our Profession.” Check out our video documentary to hear reflections from practicing structural engineers on the day of the event.
In August 2019, SE3 hosted a Building Industry Speed Mentoring Event where structural engineers, geotechnical engineers, architects and general contractors were invited to participate as mentors.
At the end of August, SEAONC SE3 published its first “Leadership in Action” blog post which features discussions on engagement and best practices for improving talent retention, with insights and metrics from researchers and our own building design industry leaders. We invite all practicing professionals to share their experiences and successes related to engagement and equity with us. Contact us at SE3project@gmail.com to contribute to the blog!
The 2018-2019 SEAONC SE3 Committee co-chairs Hayley Dickson and Zahraa Saiyed presented at the 88th Annual SEAOC Convention in Squaw Creek, California.
Career coach Dr. Amina Aitsi-Selmi, M.D. Ph.D., held a Webinar entitled “Engineer Your Dream Career” for SEAONC members in October 2019.
In October 2019, the SEAONC SE3 Diversity & Inclusion Task Group, the SEAONC Young Members Forum, and AIA East Bay hosted a workshop on “Building an Inclusive Workplace for All in the 21st Century”. The event served as the launch of SE3’s D&I initiative focusing on expanding the conversation around equity and engagement in structural engineering.
In mid November, SE3 held a picnic in the Presidio to show appreciation to committee members, mentors, advocates, and champions.

SEAONC SE3 Leadership Transition!

10/20/2019

SE3 is pleased to announce that the committee co-chairs for 2019-2020 will be Brenna Marcoux of FTF Engineering and Rachel Cohen of Forell/Elsesser. Brenna has co-led the SE3 mentorship subcommittee and Rachel has co-led the SE3 Outreach and Communications subcommittee for the past year.

Thank you to outgoing co-chairs, Zahraa Saiyed of Scyma Design and Consulting and Hayley Dickson of Forell Elsesser for their exceptional leadership, inspiration and dedicated efforts over the last two years. SE3 has coordinated several very successful events and made a significant impact on the structural engineering and building design community. We are proud to continue to build our network of advocates and ambassadors who are dedicated to the advancement of our profession. We are grateful for the many individuals who have volunteered their time to provide meaningful events and programs for our local area.

We are also pleased to announce new leaders of our various subcommittees. Sara Rahme of Hilti and Steve Earl of Forell Elsesser Engineers will be co-leading the mentorship committee. Hayley Proctor of Wiss Janey Elstner will be joining Maito Okamoto as co-lead of the Diversity & Inclusion Subcommittee. Yoshita Manne of Tipping Structural Engineers will be co-leading communications and outreach with Stephanie Borchers of Forell Elsesser Engineers.

SEAONC SE3 May Symposium Video Documentary

10/13/2019

The SEAONC SE3 Committee is thrilled to announce that the new video documentary, featuring reflections from collaborators, advocates and thought leaders during the May 2019 SEAONC SE3 Symposium in San Francisco, California has now been published!

The goal of this event was to broaden the discussion of engagement and equity by inviting structural engineers from all over California and outside of the state to participate on aspects of changing our profession for the better. The sold out symposium featured inspirational speakers and thought leaders who left the audience invigorated and committed to advancement of our structural engineering industry.

The 2018-2019 SE3 Committee co-chairs, Zahraa Saiyed and Hayley Dickson, and co-founder Natalie Tse, would like to thank this year's sponsors for their generous donations, support and advocacy of the SE3 Project Mission, and to the dedicated SE3 committee leads and core members and volunteers for their continuous commitment to the advancement of the structural engineering profession.

This video was created by filmmaker, Conor Hagen, based in Northern California, and director at Red Lady Films.

If you have any comments or questions about this event and future collaboration efforts with the SE3 Committee, please email us at se3@seaonc.org.

Watch the video!

Save the date for our workshop promoting diversity and inclusion!

9/12/2019

SEAONC SE3 Committee is excited to be collaborating with SEAONC YMF and AIA East Bay to host a fun and engaging event mid-October to celebrate diversity and to work together to improve awareness on equity issues and inclusivity in the building design profession.

SEAONC SE3 OCTOBER WORKSHOP
Building an Inclusive Workplace for ALL in the 21st Century
Thursday, October 17 | 5:30pm-8:00pm
AIA East Bay

This program features a presentation from an expert on change management, employee engagement and “tactical implementation” of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives. Participants will identify and discuss relevant issues through facilitated discussions, and will collaborate on finding solutions. The event concludes with continued conversations and networking. Appetizers and refreshments will be provided.
Attendees will leave this workshop energized, empowered with the tools to augment relationships, influence change in recruiting practices at their firm, to help improve engagement and talent retention in our profession.

Leadership in Action | An SE3 Blog

8/27/2019

Check out SEAONC SE3’s first “Leadership in Action” Blog Post with discussions on engagement and best practices for improving talent retention, with insights and metrics from researchers and our own building design industry leaders.

SE3 has launched this new blog to providing ongoing content surrounding company best practices, highlight important concepts related to the improvement of employee engagement, and encourage the sharing of ideas among members of our industry.

2019 SEAONC SE3 #ChangeXSE3 Symposium

5/11/2019

The SEAONC Structural Engineering, Engagement, and Equity Project (SE3) held its 2019 Symposium on May 10th, 2019 in San Francisco entitled A Changing Workplace: How to Engage, Retain and Secure the Future of our Profession. From the inception of the symposium, the goal of this event was to broaden the discussion of engagement and equity by inviting structural engineers from all over California and outside of the state as well to participate on aspects of changing our profession for the better.

The sold out symposium featured inspirational speakers and thought leaders that left the audience invigorated and committed to advancement of our structural engineering industry. Following our symposium, an overwhelming majority of post-event survey participants stated they were extremely likely to recommend a friend or colleague to attend a future SE3 symposium, rating their overall experience as excellent.

For the organizers, volunteers and sponsors of this event, such statistics fuel our momentum to continue the work of SE3 for and on behalf of our engineering community. To learn more about the sessions and programming of the 2019 SE3 symposium, please go to this link.

SE3 Long-Term Mentorship Program- Kick-Off

3/20/2019

SE3 launched its Long-Term mentorship program on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at Thornton Tomasetti in San Francisco. It was a GREAT success!!

The goal of the program is to create mentee-mentor pairs or groups across age, experience, and firms to encourage less experienced engineers to gain strategic guidance and career advice. Mentees had a chance to meet and mingle with their prospective mentors, and the event was a success! If you are interested in being a mentor for future mentorship events, please complete this form.

A big thank you to our mentors for their willingness to participate and mentorship co-chairs, Brenna Marcoux and Sarah Sullivan and co-chairs Zahraa Saiyed and Hayley Dickson, and several other SE3 volunteers for their efforts in making this event and program a great success.

SEAONC SE3 Long-Term Mentorship Program Kick-off!

3/16/2019

The SEAONC SE3 Committee will be hosting a kick-off event for the SE3 Long-Term Mentorship Program this Tuesday, March 19 at Thorton Tomasetti's office in downtown San Francisco. Our hope is that this program will give opportunities for less-experienced engineers to gain strategic guidance and career advice from other people from the local community.

Based on data collected from each of the participants, mentee-mentor pairs or groups were developed by the program co-chairs to provide alignment based on relevant experience, firms, career focus topics, and meet-up logistics.

We'd like to acknowledge the many individuals who are going to be volunteering their time and insights as mentors for the coming year. We look forward to hearing how the mentoring sessions go from both perspectives, and will be soliciting feedback throughout the process.

A big shout-out to our SEAONC SE3 Mentorship Committee Co-leads, Brenna Marcoux and Sarah Sullivan, and contributor, Yoshita Manne, and support from current SEAONC SE3 committee co-chairs Hayley Dickson and Zahraa Saiyed for putting so much dedicated time and thought into this program.

Thank you to TT-SF for generously allowing us to use their space for this event! We appreciate it immensely!

SEAONC SE3 Mentorshiop Program Mentors: See any familiar faces?

2019 SE3 Symposium Theme Announced!!!

3/3/2019

In January 2017, the SEAONC Structural Engineering Engagement and Equity (SE3) Committee hosted its first symposium in San Francisco entitled LISTEN. ASSESS. CHANGE. This sold out event hosted 120 attendees who came to learn about the 2016 SE3 study and listen to the experiences and inspiring ideas of a wide variety of professionals who were featured as speakers and panelists.

Our SEAONC SE3 leadership team is excited to officially announce the theme and venue of its second symposium in San Francisco, California. This half-day event, entitled A Changing Workplace - How to Engage, Retain, and Secure the Future of Our Profession, is for business owners, human resource managers, partners, and employees of all levels in the A/E/C industry who are interested in promoting discussion on engagement and equity in the structural engineering profession.

Date: Friday, May 10, 2019 | 1 pm - 7:30 pm
Location: SPUR, 654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

Attendees will get a preview of the 2018 NCSEA SE3 survey findings related to satisfaction, employee engagement and retention. The event will include collaborative breakout sessions moderated by SE3 committee members, featuring special guests who will share their varied experiences and insights on workplace culture, strategic planning, career development and core values.

For more info on the program, speakers and moderators, please visit the symposium event page.

A HUGE thank you to our Title / Platinum sponsor Computers Structures Inc (CSI) for their loyal support of the SE3's mission though generous contributions. We deeply appreciate CSI's strong commitment to the enhancement of our profession!

Please ping us at se3@seaonc.org if you're interested in becoming an official sponsor for this event.

SEAONC SE3 Long-Term Mentorship Program

2/13/2019

The SEAONC SE3 Committee is launching a Long-Term Mentorship Program!
The goal of the program is to create mentee-mentor pairs or groups across age, experience, and firms to encourage less experienced engineers to gain strategic guidance and career advice.

In our 2016 survey, we found that respondents with identified mentors reported being more satisfied with career trajectory and career choice. SEAONC has long fostered a strong community among structural engineers in the Bay Area, and the SE3 mentorship program seeks to strengthen that legacy.

“Having a mentor motivated me to focus on my career goals rather than just my daily tasks and assignments. I hadn’t thought about that until I had a mentor who asked me those questions and showed interest in my development.” - Tim Hart, SEAONC President

“Mentorship orients us to the greater world of our profession, and helps us become the best version of ourselves.” - Taryn Williams, SEAONC Past President

Mentees - Apply Today! If you are interested in participating in the first year of our long-term mentorship program, please fill out this application. The commitment involves participating in a few 1-hr mentorship sessions throughout the year, as well as a kick-off and closing event. We are looking for mentees with a range of experience levels, students welcome! Applications close March 8, 2019.

If you know anyone who may be interested in being a mentee, please pass on this application. If you have any questions, please email us at se3@seaonc.org.

Mentors - If you'd like to participate as a mentor in a future mentoring event or program, please complete this form to be added to our database: https://tinyurl.com/ybp66pyn

Thank you for your interest and continued commitment to the advancement of the structural engineering profession!